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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Many Hands Make Light Work

Jane Stevenson

Greetings!Jane StevensonThe purpose of this new blog is to create a forum to discuss the ancestors and siblings of JANE STEVENSON, born 5 December 1820, died 21 September 1895. My name is Max Evans and I am her great-great grandson. She married my great-great grandfather, William Clark, in 1851. Her first husband, Stephen Weeks Ross, died in 1849. You can find a summary of her life in the story I wrote,"William and Jane: A Match Made in ... Council Point?" I have many, many questions about her immediate family, so I started a discussion on her Family Tree profile. I repeat it here. I invite those who have recently posted information on her profile, as well as others, to comment. Working together, I hope we can identify sources to support, or refute, assertions on the family tree.Discussion - Questions about the parents and siblings of Jane StevensonI am looking for records for the birth of Jane Stevenson (Ross Clark). The US Censuses are ambiguous. The 1850 census indicates her birth in New Jersey, age 30. The 1860 has her born in Canada, age 39. The 1870, born in Canada, age 48. And the 1880, in Canada, age 59. The tree shows her born 5 December 1820 in "Upper Canada, Ontario, Canada" (which I believe is redundant; isn't Upper Canada the earlier name for Ontario?).Based on the census responses, I'm inclined to believe the birth data in the tree for Jane. But I would like to know why the family was in Canada. Consider this timeline, according to the Family Tree1742 - Jane's grandfather, Samuel Stevenson II born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey1785 - Jane's father, Samuel Stevenson III born in Upper Canada, Ontario, Canada1792 - Jane's mother, Sarah Lust born in Sussex County, New Jersey1808 - Jane's parents, Samuel III and Sara, married in Morris County, New Jersey1810 - Jane's sister, Eliza, born in Canada1812 - Jane's sister, Hannah, born in Canada1816 - Jane's sister, Sarah Ann, born in Sussex County, New Jersey1820 - Jane, born in Upper Canada, Ontario, Canada1822 - Jane's sister, Emily,born in Canada1823 - Jane's mother, Sarah Lust Stevenson died in Sussex County, New Jersey1824 - Jane's brother, William,born in Sussex County, New Jersey1826 - Jane's sister, Juliet,born in Upper Canada, Ontario, CanadaIs Samuel II really the father of Samuel III? All of the other children of Samuel II were born in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Why was Samuel III born in Canada? Did he go to Canada after 1782 with his family and return before 1888? Many Stevensons from New Jersey and Pennsylvania were Quakers. Perhaps he left to avoid difficulties caused by Quaker pacifism near the end of the Revolution, and returned home after the end of hostilities. (The war ended with the treaty of Paris in 1783.)Consider the birth order of Jane and her siblings, by place: New Jersey, Canada, New Jersey, New Jersey, Canada, Canada, New Jersey, Canada, Canada, New Jersey, Canada, (mother dies New Jersey), New Jersey, Canada. The last two cannot be born after the mother's death. Is the family in the Tree of Samuel III and Sarah really conflated from two families? One in New Jersey and one in Canada? I think so, but I need sources.Jane married Stephen Week Ross in New Jersey where they lived until his death in 1849. They had five children, one about every two years. The youngest two died. After Stephen's death, Jane and the three children are found in the census living with Lot and Elizabeth Pratt. Elizabeth Pratt was formerly Elizabeth Ross (or Roos), according to an IGI entry for a 1819 marriage in New Jersey. Since Stephen Weeks Ross's mother, according to the Tree, was named Elizabeth, and his father died about 1819, I think Jane lived with her mother-in-law, and her husband, until Jane and her three children moved west to join the overland journey to Utah in 1851.In addition, two of Jane's sisters on the tree, Sarah Ann and Emily, were shown as also married to Stephen Week Ross and as the parents one and two, respectively, of her children. This cannot be right, unless he was practicing polygamy before the practice became public in 1852 in Utah. I deleted these relationships.I hope someone can provide sources that help us straighten out this tangle.